A Limerick dad was separated from his seven-year-old son and locked up for bringing him onto the field after a hurling game in New York.
Seamie O'Mahony, 36, begged NYPD police officers to let him see his crying son when he was arrested at Citi Field Stadium and later detained for seven hours at a police station.
After helping his son Odhran meet his Limerick heroes following the New York Hurling Classic on Saturday, O'Mahony was taken into custody without his son and now faces a court date in New York next week.
"I think it was wrong," O'Mahony told the Irish Mirror.
"Fair enough, they have their law over there and I respect that.
"What I think was wrong about the whole thing was that they left my son in a stadium not knowing who he was with, and even though the person was his aunt, they didn't know whether the child was safe or not.
"Odhran was in absolute hysterics roaring crying [as I was taken away]. I just have this vision in my head of his hands out roaring for me.
"At that point they hadn't asked who had taken my son - their main interest was taking me into a room not caring who he was with.
"I told them that 'I'll pay whatever the fine is, just please let me out to my son' - but they wouldn't".
O'Mahony made the 5,000 km trip to the Big Apple to see Limerick at the hurling tournament, and brought his son onto the pitch after the game to catch a close-up glimpse of the players.
Odhran was given a helmet by Limerick player William O'Donoghue to take as a souvenir.
The Treaty superfan was then followed and taken into custody by four stewards after lifting his son back over the barrier to his sister Trish, who Odhran had met for the first time just one day before, leaving him in tears.
He described being brought into a room and then held in a cell within the stadium before being handcuffed and brought to a police station and again put in a cell.
He was released shortly before 11 pm - seven hours after the incident had taken place.
He added: "They didn't ask me until I was inside the room 'who was Odhran with?'.
"I told him he was with my sister who he hadn't really met. He met her for the first time the day before that because she's been in America all of her life.
"They handcuffed me and walked me into a cell [inside the stadium]. I kept explaining to them that my son was outside.
"(In the precinct) they registered my finger-pints and put me into a cell with two other guys."
O'Mahony is legally required to fly back to the United States and appear before a court on Wednesday 27 November in New York.
"My only concern in all of this was my son. If I knew that was against the law I would not have gone out onto the field.
"He [Odhran] is grand now. For the first day or two after the incident he said he didn't want to go to any more Limerick games, but he's come around since thankfully."
The Irish Mirror has contacted officials from Citi Field Stadium for comment.
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